HAPPIEST SEASON, written by Clea DuVall and Mary Holland, offers some great writing lessons both in what it does well and in its struggles.
On the positive side, the film offers two really strong queer characters in John and Riley, protagonist Abby's best friend and her girlfriend Harper's former lover. John in a sense plays the classic queer comic relief best friend role. He's Rosie O'Donnell and Rupert Everett rolled into one, by turns killing Abby's fish and providing her with solid, solid advice.
Riley, too, occupies a sort of wise queer person space, but emerging from a really unusual take on a classic role, that of the old boyfriend/girlfriend. Typically that role is an obstacle to the main relationship -- either there are still sparks or the character is trying to undermine things. Riley is interested in none of that. In fact she's pretty careful early on about what she reveals of her history with Harper, specifically so as not to be any kind of spoiler.
I think what ends up making her so interesting--truly, every scene she's in she steals the film--is that it's very clear she has a life of her own. Her character in a sense illustrates the power of Playing Hard to Get -- as much as we're here for the drama of it all, we also love the character who doesn't care about any of that.
She and John also have in common a sense of acceptance about the messiness of life. When Abby says she thought Harper was one thing and now she thinks she's something else, Riley's answer that "Maybe she's both" really turns your head. Again, wisdom is not an uncommon trait either for the friend of the romcom lead or for the queer friend. But in a sense the truth that both John and Riley have to share comes from an awareness of our flaws and internal ambiguity that you don't often see in the straight versions of this film.
The other side of the coin is, the main relationship is deeply problematic, I think both because the film tries too hard to adhere to certain romcom moves, and because it doesn't dig deep enough into its main character. In a sense the film is an I LOVE LUCY storyline -- Harper has a secret that Abby has to help her keep it, while things get more and more complicated. Except in an I LOVE LUCY story the secret that Lucy wants Ethel to help her keep doesn't end up diminishing Ethel in any way, while Abby having to keep hiding not only that Harper is gay but that they're in a relationship is really a punch in the face at every turn.
It might be different if the film had begun by giving us a moment where we see how much Harper appreciates her, or got a real taste of how cool their relationship is, so we'd have a "them" to root for. But instead the film begins with Harper trying to convince Abby -- whose parents are dead -- to love Christmas, only to then force her into this Christmas experience that is so humiliating. (Her parents actually accuse her of stealing something, and Harper does not back her. I mean, Jesus.)
The other side of this is, where you'd expect the film's main arc to be the protagonist's, and our focus to be on their journey, we never get to dig too deeply into why Abby is so willing to take this kind of crap. She's really the trope of the accepting long suffering girlfriend. In a sense that's part of why John and Riley pop so much; through both their advice and the way they live their lives they're the ones who offer to Abby the possibility that her life doesn't have to be like this.When she finally near the end tells John she doesn't want to wait for Harper to get ready, she wants to be with someone who is ready now you want to leap up and cheer. Finally, she's cast her assigned role off. If only the film had ended with that...
There's an I LOVE LUCY lesson in this as well. Every crazy thing that Lucy does and goes through always is presented with an eye toward how those choices and events affect her. That's where the joy and the comedy lies, in us watching her have to deal with these things, and the hilarious things they reveal about her. In HAPPIEST SEASON, we follow Abby as she is confronted with these things, but it never really seems reveal anything new about her. It's more like, and will she accept this new crazy thing that Harper and her family ask of her? Why, yes she will.
Every obstacle should spur new choices and offer new revelations of our hero's character.
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It's been great writing about queer stories this last month. For the month of July I'm turning to comedy. I'm going to take four shows -- TED LASSO, PARKS & REC, RUTHERFORD FALLS and one to be named later -- and do a week of looking at techniques in each.
See you then!
